State of Happiness To Compete At Canneseries

Eight-part period drama State of Happiness (Lykkeland), has been selected for the inaugural Canneseries Competition (4 – 11 April), with a story about a changing nation and four people who are thrown into a whirlwind of opportunities. It will premiere on NRK this autumn.

It’s the summer of 1969 in the small coastal town of Stavanger. International oil companies have been test-drilling for years, but nothing has been found and they are in the process of leaving.

However, on Christmas Eve 1969, the gas flare at the Ocean Viking oil rig lights up. Philips Petroleum has found the largest sub sea oil basin in history, and everything is about to change.

State of Happiness is written by Mette Marit Bølstad (Nobel) and directed by Petter Næss. The cast includes Pia Tjelta and Per Kjerstad as shipowners whose fortunes are failing, alongside Bart Edwards (UnREAL), Anne Regine Ellingsæter, Malene Wadel and Amund Harboe as the aspiring youngsters whose lives are about to change.

The winner of the inaugural Canneseries Competition will be decided by an international jury presided over by Harlan Coben, and the award will be presented 11th April during a ceremony broadcast live on Canal+.